| A | B |
|---|
| affix | a morpheme added to the beginning or ending of a word |
| suffix | an affix attached to the end of a word, either to create a new word or to add grammatical information |
| prefix | an affix attached to the beginning of a word to create a new word |
| ameliorate (amelioration) | the process by which a word loses its negative connotations and acquires positive ones. |
| base | the morpheme that contains the basic meaning of a word (also called the root or stem). A derivational morpheme can be attached to create new words |
| compounding | the creation of a new word by combining two words (sidewalk) |
| connotation | the negative or positive associations implied by a word. sweat has negative connotations, persire has more neutral ones |
| derivation | the formation of words by adding prefixes and suffixes to existing words or bases |
| etymology | the origin and linguistic development of a word |
| extension | the process by which the meaning of a word broadens to include more categories in its reference. "bead" originally meant "prayer" |
| form-class words | the set of words capable of changing form through the addition of inflectional and derivational morphemes |
| inflections | a change in form that signals the grammatical function of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns (e.g. noun plurals, verb tenses) |
| morpheme | a sound or combination of sounds having a single meaning |
| allomorph | a variant of a single morpheme. For example, the past tense morpheme occurs in a variety of forms, including "-en" and "-ed" |
| zero allomorph | an inflection on nouns or verbs presumed to be present although invisible |
| bound morpheme | a morpheme that cannot stand alone as a word |
| free morpheme | a morpheme that can stand alone as a word |
| derivational morpheme | a morpheme that creates one word from another (enrage, critical) |
| inflectional morpheme | a morpheme used to create a variant form of a word in order to signal grammatical information (e.g. the suffix {-ed} signals that a verb is past tense: walked) |
| narrowing | the process by which the meaning of a word becomes more specialized and includes fewer categories in its reference |
| pejoration | the process by which a word degenerates, acquiring negative connotations over time. |
| semantics | the study of the meaning of words, sentences, and other language forms |
| structure-class words | words that occur in a single form and signal structural (grammatical) relationships within phrases, clauses, and sentences. e.g. determiners, auxiliaries, prepositions, etc |
| comparative (adjective/adverb) | degree expressed for adjectives and adverbs by using "more" or {-er} |
| superlative (adjective/adverb) | degree expressed for adjectives and adverbs by using "most" or {-est} |
| plural (noun) | a grammatical feature enabling nouns and pronouns to express the difference between one and more than one ({-s}) |
| possessive (noun) | a grammatical trait of nouns and pronouns generally expressing possession ({-s}) |
| present tense (verb, third-person singular) | the form of the verb expressing present time ({-s}) |
| past tense (verb) | the form of the verb expressing a past action or state and containing the {-ed} morpheme |
| past participle (verb) | the form of the verb ending in {-en} and able to be used in the sentence "I have always _____ something." |
| present participle (verb) | the form of the verb ending in {-ing} and able to be used in the sentence "They are _____ (that) right now." |
